So, first let me say - WOW! This car is absolutely amazing and sooooooo fun!!!!
Okay - Saturday arrives and I've got the day to myself, thus I decide to go explore and enjoy my new toy, especially now that I've passed the "break-in" period. My original plans were to drive out to Long Beach and pick up Hwy 1 and run up to Malibu and back. However, because it was raining and didn't let up til after noon (I'm about an hour inland from the coast, so that was a killer - anyone who knows soCal also knows it would have taken me probably almost 2 hours to get to Long Beach).
So, pulled out the map and planned another route - I -10 east out towards Indo/Coachella Valley (yep, location of the Coachella Valley Music Festival - a definite must do if you can fit it into your schedule - but that is a separate thread). Pick up CA86S and zip past the amazing Salton Sea and some wide open, beautiful stretch of desert and a lightly traveled highway in great condition. Take this out to the CA79W. Here's where the fun can really begin.
This stretch starts of as a hilly two-lane road, with open desert and dunes on either side and very lightly traveled (at least at 3:30 pm on a Saturday). The beautiful thing about California is that the geography can change in a heartbeat - which is what you experience on the 78, which actually takes you southwest. Following a nice jaunt on this hilly stretch of straight hwy, you enter the Anza-Borrego State Park/Santa Rosa Mtns and the terrain changes (mild elevation changes and great windy roads). This stretch brings you into the back side of southern California wine country. Now, you could continue on the 78 all the way to Escondido and on to Oceanside. Or, you can pick up CA79N (which is what I did) and head up to the I-15 in Temecula (this is about a 45 mile jaunt again through twisty, semi-hilly wine country). The entire tour (at least starting from my house near the 215/10 interchange) was 300, lovely and fun miles!!!!!!!! I highly recommend this drive to anyone in soCal (if you haven't already) or anyone coming to soCal. In fact, maybe we should plan a little California cruise?!
Now, to my thoughts on the rear wing - As I mentioned in my response to the thread posted about the usefulness of the wing - the cross winds can be rough in the desert - I'd assume the winds were blowing approximately 30-35mph - once I hit the wide open CA78W I put the top up, and let the speedo run into the triple digits. Had the road been flat rather than hilly and 4 lanes & empty, not 2 lanes and empty I would have experimented with achieving true top end (I pushed mildly into the triple digits). Anyhow, the car was pushed around quite a bit by the cross winds - but definitely more so in the 0-75mph range and definitely less above 75mph. I would imagine that in a flat stretch or closed circuit with minimal winds, the rear wing would make a very significant difference when drifting far into the triple numbers.
I love this car! Does anyone think Porsche would let me test drive a Carrera on this loop?
Linear Mode
